Read It and Weep!

“I tore my eyes away from the way her damp T-shirt, underneath her jacket, clung to her skin and bra. “Sorry.” “No,” she said, pulling her jacket tight and doing the buttons, “it’s alright. I mean, I teased you for looking at other women. That implies I want you to look at me instead. So I shouldn’t get mad at you when you do.”

My skins crawls at that mushy talk! Moving on!

The Reckoners series is definitely YA through and through, unlike Brandon Sanderson’s other books, and this is more evident in Firefight. The tone while serious at times is watered down by David’s silly non-metaphors and his wandering eye. When he’s not ogling women and acting like a hormonal buffoon, he’s a remarkably cold-blooded killer.(view spoiler)[Matter of fact, save one, he is directly involved in all Epic killings. The one he doesn’t kill, he softens him up and ties him up for the eventual and I should say, accidental, turn of events (hide spoiler)]

Firefight basically is all about David looking to exonerate his love interest, Megan aka Firefight who’s accused by the Reckoners’ leader Prof. and Tia of betrayal and by Val and her crew of killing their friend and creater of the Epic-powered Spyril device. In the interim, they have to try to unearth the real reason as to why Regalia, the High Epic controlling Babilar, seems to have a vested interest in smoking Prof. out of hiding by sending Epic after Epic to kill his crew. And like a prelude to all horror stories, he falls for the trick.

The metamorphosis of the characters from what they at first appear to be is remarkable. David sheds his bloodlust as he reconciles his love for Megan and the lengths he would go to to save her vis a vis the supposed enemy, a category Megan snuggly falls under. Prof. as well has to come to terms with who he is deep inside and whether or not his unique abilities destroy him or if he can continue to keep a lid on it. Our perspective of Megan goes through a cup of introspection as we work out which side of the fence she falls. And Mizzy, now that was a shocker. Ms. Little Sunshine packs quite a punch. The characters are awesome. This is Sanderson after all.

The mystery behind Calamity still remains, and if there’s one thing readers collectively have in common, it’s our insatiable curiosity. In light of the new information we get from Firefight, I want to unearth the Calamity and who or what he/it is. I want to know what changes David might or might not experience for what happens to him at the hands of Calamity and you know, how it changes things, considering the whole dynamic of the Reckoners changes at the end of this book. I am begrudgingly hooked. Shh! Don’t say that out loud.